How can you find anything in all these numbers and letters!?! The Periodic Table How can you find anything in all these numbers and letters!?!
Why is the Periodic Table important to me? The periodic table is the most useful tool to a chemist. You will use it on every test. It organizes lots of information about all the known elements.
Pre-Periodic Table Chemistry … …was a mess!!! No organization of elements. Difficult to find information. Chemistry didn’t make sense.
Dmitri Mendeleev: Father of the Table HOW HIS WORKED… Put elements in rows by increasing atomic weight. Put elements in columns by the way they reacted. He left blank spaces for what he said were undiscovered elements. (Turned out he was right!) He had to break his own pattern of increasing atomic weight to keep similar reacting elements together.
The Current Periodic Table Mendeleev wasn’t too far off. Now the elements are put in rows by increasing ATOMIC NUMBER!! The horizontal rows are called periods and are labeled from 1 to 7. The vertical columns are called groups are labeled from 1 to 18.
Are you with me? 1. How did Mendeleev organize his table? 2. What direction do groups go? 3. What is different about today’s periodic table than the way Mendeleev did his table? 4. What direction do periods go?
Groups…Here’s Where the Periodic Table Gets Useful!! Elements in the same group have similar chemical and physical properties!! (Mendeleev did that on purpose.) Why?? They have the same number of valence electrons. They will form the same kinds of ions.
Families or Groups on the Periodic Table Columns on the P.T. are organized into families or groups. Each groups or family is represented by names rather than numbers. (Just like your family has a common last name.)
Alkali Metals 1st column on the periodic table (Group 1) including hydrogen. Very reactive elements, always combined with something else in nature (like in salt). Soft enough to cut with a butter knife
Alkaline Earth Metals Second column on the periodic table. (Group 2) Reactive metals that give off lots of different colors when burned. Several of these elements are important mineral nutrients. Which ones?
Transition Metals Elements in groups 3-12 Less reactive harder metals Includes metals used in jewelry and construction. Metals used “as metal.”
Boron Family Elements in group 13 Aluminum metal was once rare and expensive, not a “disposable metal.” Boron is the only semi-metal in the group. A thin layer of Indium is usually found on LCD displays like your computer and television.
Carbon Family Elements in group 14 Contains elements important to life and computers. Carbon is the basis for an entire branch of chemistry. Silicon and Germanium are important semiconductors.
Nitrogen Family Elements in group 15 Nitrogen makes up over ¾ of the atmosphere. Nitrogen and phosphorus are both important in living things Contains elements found in gun powders and fertilizers.
Oxygen Group – AKA Chalcogens Elements in group 16 Oxygen is necessary for respiration and photosynthesis. Many things that stink, contain sulfur (rotten eggs, garlic, skunks,etc.)
Halogens Elements in group 17 Very reactive, volatile, diatomic, nonmetals Always found combined with other element in nature . Used as disinfectants and to strengthen teeth.
The Noble Gases Elements in group 18 Very unreactive, monatomic gases Used in lighted “neon” signs Used in blimps to fix the Hindenberg problem. Have a full valence shell.
Metalloids A collection of elements that fall on the “staircase” and divide the metals from the nonmetals Because these elements are between metals and nonmetals, they are described as having properties of both metals and nonmetals!
Lanthanide Contains 14 different elements Are used as catalyst in petroleum products, as well as lasers, magnets, and motion picture projectors. Many scientific and industrials uses
Actinides All of these elements are radioactive. Uranium and Plutonium used in Nuclear power plants and bombs They react with water and acids to produce Hydrogen. Many of these were created by scientist.